Canada: Air India Kanishka bombing probe likely to end; families dismayed

Canadian law enforcement Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is contemplating to scale back its probe into the Air India Flight 182 Kanishka bombing attack in 1985 by Khalistani extremists on June 23, 1985.

A letter written by Sanjay Lazar, a family member of victims and chairman of the Kanishka Foundation, to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney implied that the Canadian law enforcement is mulling to reduce the task force citing lack of leads to proceed with the probe.

“To my utter shock and horror, I learnt that there is a move afoot to abandon the investigations, to reduce the size of the task force, and basically put the AI-182 Kanishka matter into ‘inactive’ status”, Lazar wrote in the letter.

Lazar, who is based in Mumbai but travelled to Canada and attended the meeting in person, lost his entire family, parents and infant sister, in the bombing.

“Many family members were distraught at hearing this and naturally the tempers flared and family members broke down,” Lazar wrote.

“Given the state of growing Khalistani and other extremism in Canada and the world, I respectfully reach out to your good self to ensure that the investigations continue, a renewed push be made with an enhanced reward, and that stronger efforts be made by the Canadian policing and intelligence authorities to find the perpetrators”, he concluded in his letter.

The letter was also marked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, foreign ministers of India and Canada, and other Canadian officials including the RCMP Commissioner.

The Kanishka bombing remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Canadian history, with 329 people aboard killed, most of them Canadians.

Anirudh Bhattacharya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media. He tweets as @anirudhb. Read More